


The Shape of a Heart

by yuletide_archivist



Category: The Venture Bros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-21
Updated: 2008-12-21
Packaged: 2018-01-25 06:07:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1635599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Story by StrawberryRoan</p><p>Dr. Girlfriend makes a decision.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Shape of a Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Eurydice

 

 

Monday was supposed to be shopping day because there was absolutely nothing on TV.

But here she was, on a perfectly gorgeous Saturday afternoon, pushing a cart along with the crowd of civilians and unwashed masses all because her boyfriend had failed- once more- to kill Dr. Venture, and insisted on ice cream and tissues to soothe his emotional pain. 

Dr. Girlfriend, aka, the former Queen Etherea, aka, Sheila Marie, the girl whose twenties were a blur, who was used to having breakfast in Paris and dinner in Milan all in the same day, who had not only been to Morocco twice, but had seen a man melted there, was feeling less than fantastic at the realization that she had been reduced to little more than a housewife in fancy boots. 

Her sleep schedule was completely thrown off by the Monarch's early morning temper tantrum, her allergies acting up- thank god for sunglasses and prescription strength sinus medicine- and she was missing a perfectly good episode of Charm School, the same one she had missed the night before due to the Monarch's insistence that she be in the throne room to witness Dr. Venture's undoing. 

Or something like that, as usual it hadn't exactly gone the way her boyfriend had planned, and now it was gonna be like...two weeks before she could find out what Saaphyri had been bawling about in the promo she had only been teased with about seventeen times in the week preceding. 

She ignored how the manager was pretending not to be following them, as she figured it was the kindest thing he could do. Anyone else would've seen an extremely frustrated girl in oversized sunglasses and a pink nurses` outfit, flanked by five laughably out of shape henchmen, and locked the front doors. It had happened before. Twice. 

"I'm not saying they're completely useless, Monarch, I know they can do the heavy lifting but- who, Monarch? Who exactly do I need protection from?" Sheila said as she balanced the phone between her shoulder and ear and glanced over at 21 and 24, who were going at each other with two loaves of French bread. 28 was at least behaving himself, quietly rifling through a dirty magazine and trying to sneak it into the cart. 

Nice birthday present, Monarch. A pink cell phone that matched her costume, how on Earth could he turn that around and make it all about him? Well, calling every hour on the hour was one way. 

If she had known the Monarch was going to use her new cell phone to check up on her constantly, she would've quietly exchanged it for a different cell phone, one that came with a removable battery. 

"Yes, sweetie. Of course I'm sorry about you and Dr. Venture. I'm sure he recognized you at the video store last week, didn't you see the fear in his eyes?" 

As usual, Sheila's mind was wandering, and she took the phone away from her ear again to flip back through her old text messages. 

Two from the Monarch himself, both sent while she was in the cocoon not half a foot away from him. One came from her sister, on vacation somewhere in the Hamptons. And then there was... that other one. The 12 words she must have read a dozen times since that morning.

She hadn't meant for it to go as far as it did. Sheila had meant it to be a curious phone call, the sort of thing you do while your boyfriend is out of the house and the idea comes to you, only to be forgotten later...but it hadn't been taken so lightly, and now she had already had two conversations, both of which had ended with her pretending she was talking to her mother and hanging up when the Monarch entered the room. 

Dr. Girlfriend headed up to the counter as her headache was starting again, and just as the henchmen were starting to really get on her nerves. 

"Who put all these pizza rolls in here? No, not you, sweetie. Look, I have another..." He wasn't listening. Something told her the Monarch didn't care if she was either. 

Dr. Girlfriend dropped the phone from her ear, carefully closing it. Dropped call. Oops. As the clerk rang up their items, Dr. Girlfriend reached out to slap 28's hand before he could make a grab for one of those little candy bars off the display, and then opened her phone to look at that damn text message again. She was going to have to make a decision sooner or later, there was just no way around that. And at that moment, Sheila knew the choice she desperately wanted to make. What was the harm in just meeting? The Monarch wouldn't even find out! 

"217.47." The bored sounding clerk said, interrupting her private reverie. Sheila handed over her shiny black guild credit card, and sighed. What happened to the days of running up her card on crocodile boots and hair extensions? Well, those days were apparently over, Dr. Girlfriend thought as she glanced over the receipt handed back to her. "You put the bottled water on here twice." She flipped her phone back open one more time. 

Well, Sheila? What's it gonna be? 

What could she do? What was wrong with the Monarch, seriously? Where did he get off treating her like...like his mom or something? Didn't he know who she was?

He was absolutely maddening! Frustrating. Childish. Selfish. She practically wanted to strangle him about 50 percent of the time, when she wasn't busy trying to fix his mistakes and apologize to the guild on his behalf. Just thinking about the Monarch was making her head absolutely kill, and...and...she loved him. That was that. She loved him.

MM@ Les Brasserie Des Halles @ 7, last chance 2 discuss reassignment. 

Sheila looked down at the text message staring back up at her, and frowned. It was already almost five. There was only one thing she could do. 

"24, carry the groceries out to the car. I want all of you sticking together! If anyone gets left behind this time, we're not stopping for ice cream, got it?" 

As she deleted all the messages on her phone and shut it, Sheila took a deep breath, and then sighed. There was a hole in the palm of her glove, which she had accidentally burned with a cigarette at some point, probably while trying to drive and discipline the henchmen at the same time.

Like most of her problems, it came in the shape of a heart. 

 


End file.
